Life on the Rocks: Finding Meaning in Addiction and Recovery

138 Pages·2016·1.24 MB·English

by  Peg O’Connor

Special Praise for Life on the Rocks
“O’Connor is a gifted writer who has a most unique take on addiction and
recovery. She makes Life on the Rocks accessible and fascinating, using practical
insights—not only from the wisdom of philosophers but also from personal
experience—to put a new spin on old clichés about what it takes to live a rich,
meaningful, and joyful life beyond addiction.”
Anne M. Fletcher
Author of Inside Rehab and Sober for Good
“A wonderful, personal, lyrical book, reflecting on O’Connor’s own alcoholism
and what it has taught her about honesty, integrity, escapism, self-deception,
trauma, and the meaning of life. O’Connor accomplishes the feat of revealing the
particulars of her own fascinating life [while creating] a conversation with
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Kierkegaard, Wittgenstein and others. The book is a
down to earth, non-dogmatic meditation on addiction, recovery, and the daunting
project of living a good life without numbing one’s mind.”
Owen Flanagan
James B. Duke Professor of Philosophy at Duke University
“Peg O’Connor brings her training in philosophy—and her passion for it—to
bear on the nature of addiction and, more importantly, recovery from it. Both
addicts and philosophers will learn much from her book, as will those who are
neither. Her creative use of Nietzsche’s notion of the ‘Will to Power,’ which she
distinguishes from ‘willpower,’ points the way to a life not just lived, but lived
well, which she, like Socrates, regards as the universal human goal.”
Francis Seeburger
Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Denver and Author of
Addiction and Responsibility
“Part philosophical exploration of addiction and recovery, part personal sharing,
and part search for suffering’s deeper meaning, Life on the Rocks is a timely
contribution to addiction studies. By emphasizing that addiction not only leads to
suffering but is also caused by it, O’Connor reveals just how transformative
recovery from addiction truly is.”
Dr. Nicholas Plants
Professor of Philosophy at Prince George’s Community College and Co-editor
of Sobering Wisdom: Philosophical Explorations of Twelve-Step Spirituality
“While science, psychology, and sociology have dominated discussion of
recovery, philosophy has been largely silent. Now it finally has its say, as
O’Connor takes us back to the ancient Greek roots of philosophy as care for the
soul. She not only illuminates the recovery process but also shows that
philosophy is more than an academic subject—it is a way of life. Life in
recovery is a quest for meaning, and philosophy is the ideal guide for the quest.”
William Irwin, PhD
Herve A. LeBlanc Distinguished Service Professor of Philosophy at King’s
College Wilkes-Barre, PA, and Editor of The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop
Culture Series
“Addiction treatment and academic philosophy are not glamorous fields, but
O’Connor puts them together effectively, generating new and fascinating
therapeutic tools which address basic questions, such as ‘Why live?’ O’Connor
demonstrates through personal experience and philosophical reasoning how what
she teaches in the classroom can help the addict build a positive lifestyle in
which psychoactive substances are no longer attractive.”
John E. Burns, PhD
Founder of Vila Serena Treatment Centers, Brazil
“Through a series of short reflections that draw upon the work of our great
philosophers, Life on the Rocks offers helpful, illuminating insights into the
experience of addiction and recovery. Peg O’Connor explores the moral import
of addiction without ever ‘moralizing.’ She keeps her thinking close to life and
far away from pretension, using accessible language to convey truths that our
rationalizations keep hidden from us. She’s a philosopher with whom Socrates
would have enjoyed conversing.”
Jerome A. Miller
Co-editor of Sobering Wisdom: Philosophical Explorations of Twelve-Step
Spirituality
LIFE ON THE ROCKS

Central Recovery Press (CRP) is committed to publishing exceptional materials addressing addiction
treatment, recovery, and behavioral healthcare topics.
For more information, visit www.centralrecoverypress.com.
© 2016 by Peg O’Connor
All rights reserved. Published 2016.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission
of the publisher.
Publisher: Central Recovery Press
3321 N. Buffalo Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89129
21 20 19 18 17 16 1 2 3 4 5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: O’Connor, Peg, 1965—
Title: Life on the rocks: finding meaning in addiction and recovery / Peg O’Connor.
Description: Las Vegas: Central Recovery Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015036173| ISBN 9781942094036 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Substance abuse--Patients--Rehabilitation. | Substance abuse--Psychological aspects. |
Addicts--Behavior modification.
Classification: LCC RC564 .O28 2016 | DDC 362.29--dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015036173
Photo of Peg O’Connor by Steven Yang. Used with permission.
Early versions of Chapters Two, Five, and Twenty were first published in the New York Times (titled “In
the Cave: Philosophy and Addiction,” “The Fallacy of the ‘Hijacked Brain,’” and “The Light at the End of
Suffering,” respectively). Reprinted here with permission.
Every attempt has been made to contact copyright holders. If copyright holders have not been properly
acknowledged please contact us. Central Recovery Press will be happy to rectify the omission in future
printings of this book.
Publisher’s Note:
This book contains general information about addiction, addiction recovery, and related matters. The
information is not medical advice. This book is not an alternative to medical advice from your doctor or
other professional healthcare provider.
Our books represent the experiences and opinions of their authors only. Every effort has been made to
ensure that events, institutions, and statistics presented in our books as facts are accurate and up-to-date. To
protect their privacy, the names of some of the people, places, and institutions in this book may have been
changed.
Cover and interior design and layout by Sara Streifel, Think Creative Design
To my parents, Ann and Jack, for always giving me your blessing and support to
become whatever the hell I want to be.
“The greatest hazard of all, losing the self, can occur very quietly in the world,
as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can occur so quietly; any loss—an arm,
a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc.—is sure to be noticed.”
1
—Søren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death